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UPDATE. This shorty is forthcoming at Hermeneutic Chaos Journal in March 2017 as “Where She Began.” I never thought I’d find a match until I discovered HCJ. A perfect home! Many thanks to Editor-in-Chief Shinjini Bhattacharjee.

Huh. Well, this is one of those shorties that just… happens. I’m tired, I’m empty, I wonder why the hell I’m still staring at my monitor, why the hell I’m writing another story. I think, shit. I’m done. I’m just done. And then a sentence comes to me—nothing special but it holds. And then that sentence gives birth to another one and I find myself firmly in this strange, associative place, writing a story about something I don’t fully understand (again, as I said in my October 30 post, I’m not in Barthelme’s house but I’m on the street outside, waving at his lit window). Then the sentences just fly from my fingers, writing themselves according to the confused logic of this “story” while I half-doze. Sometimes I can wake up, wrestle a story like that into something that has a clear meaning. Sometimes I can’t. Sometimes I just know when it’s done and I’m grateful I can check off another day. This is one of those times. Sometimes I love that story anyway. And this is also one of those times.

Working Title: Purple1st Sentence: For more than a week she had been trying to get a handle on purple.Favorite Sentence: Purple Prayerful Plumply Pimpley Peppermint Pots.Word Length: 626

Claire Guyton

can't thank the Maine Arts Commission enough for granting her their 2012 literary fellowship, which she used to launch Daily Shorty. Claire writes, edits, coaches other writers, and blogs in Lewiston, where she stays sane by working on her scraggly yard, running 5Ks as slowly as possible, perfecting cracker recipes, and playing badminton. She spends the remainder of her free time with her sweet husband and perfect cats. You can contact Claire at dailyshorty@gmail.com.